Problems and priorities

So I'm sitting at my computer this morning, trying to take care of some business preparing for The Big Trip to Texas, where I, and my wheelchair, are going ALONE to this Big Convention. I'm leaving home in about a half hour from the moment at which I'm writing to you, right now.

And I'm thinking... oh my. This is big, isn't it? Yes, it is. For me, at least.

And then this call comes in from a very dear friend of mine, who's calling me from Kenya.

He's in the midst of trying to get a couple hundred people to work together on getting more water to more people... which couple-of-hundred-people that he's assisting are not (from what little he told me) used to working together, or even talking to each other.

Then he's hopping a plane to Nairobi. He's got something else on his "to do" list.

Then he's hopping another plane to Amsterdam... and from there, yet another plane back to New York City,  from where somehow he's got to then get to Rhode Island. Using whatever transportation can make it through All That Snow.

In an unrelated adventure, he's also in the midst of applying for This Other Thing (thin feeble empty To Do lists are not among his problems). He wanted to upload some pictures to assist the application process, but he was worried that because he was submitting them later this weekend rather than "today," the recipients might wig out at that material's "lateness."

I told him to tell them, "This isn't an 'excuse,' it's a 'reason': I wasn't able to upload them on this date because Kenya is having a hard time getting water to people, and that's what all their attention is going. Decent Internet connections are not a priority. When I did upload them on this date, I was in a completely different country, which has no problem getting water to its people, so they have plenty of time to spend on providing decent Internet access."

And I further told him, anyone who complains about "lateness" after seeing that reason... is a dick. And everyone else will know it. So don't worry about them.

And here I am, leaving only for the far-away land of... Texas... in about a half hour. And I have a cadre of assistants all lined up to whisk me to, and through, the various airports and eventually to my hotel. Where there will be, I'm quite sure, plenty of electricity and water. And Internet. And... everything.

The problems that we have, no matter what they are or who we are... are the problems we want to have. Because they're perfect for us, here and now. And... we can deal.

We can. Because the Great Machine of the Universe has picked them specifically for us. They're a gift, selected specifically for us, here and now.

As Corrie Ten Boom quoted her sister in the concentration camp... Thank God, even for fleas.